EGW WritingsLeviticus 23

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 12 (1897)

Ms 21, 1897

12LtMs, Ms 21, 1897, par. 7

Will my Sister Wellman consult her Bible, and she will know “What saith the Lord?” “And it came to pass on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath of the Lord; bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe: and that which remaineth over lay up for you to keep until tomorrow.” [Exodus 16:22, 23.] “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Consider the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” [Leviticus 23:1-3.]

Patriarchs and Prophets

Chapter 52—The Annual Feasts

PP 537.1

There were three annual assemblies of all Israel for worship at the sanctuary. Exodus 23:14-16. Shiloh was for a time the place of these gatherings; but Jerusalem afterward became the center of the nation’s worship, and here the tribes convened for the solemn feasts.

PP 537.2

The people were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, that were eager to seize upon their lands; yet three times every year all the able-bodied men and all the people who could make the journey were directed to leave their homes and repair to the place of assembly, near the center of the land. What was to hinder their enemies from sweeping down upon those unprotected households, to lay them waste with fire and sword? What was to prevent an invasion of the land, that would bring Israel into captivity to some foreign foe? God had promised to be the protector of His people. “The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Psalm 34:7 [A.R.V.]. While the Israelites went up to worship, divine power would place a restraint upon their enemies. God’s promise was, “I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.” Exodus 34:24.

PP 537.3

The first of these festivals, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding to the last of March and the beginning of April. The cold of winter was past, the latter rain had ended, and all nature rejoiced in the freshness and beauty of the springtime. The grass was green on the hills and valleys, and wild flowers everywhere brightened the fields. The moon, now approaching the full, made the evenings delightful. It was the season so beautifully pictured by the sacred singer:

PP 538.1

“The winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance.” Song of Solomon 2:11-13, R.V.

PP 538.2

Throughout the land bands of pilgrims were making their way toward Jerusalem. The shepherds from their flocks, the herdsmen from the mountains, fishers from the Sea of Galilee, the husbandmen from their fields, and sons of the prophets from the sacred schools—all turned their steps toward the place where God’s presence was revealed. They journeyed by short stages, for many went on foot. The caravans were constantly receiving accessions, and often became very large before reaching the Holy City.

PP 538.3

Nature’s gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel and gratitude to the Giver of all good. The grand Hebrew psalms were chanted, exalting the glory and majesty of Jehovah. At the sound of the signal trumpet, with the music of cymbals, the chorus of thanksgiving arose, swelled by hundreds of voices:

PP 538.4

“I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
Our feet are standing
Within thy gates, O Jerusalem....
Whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, ...
To give thanks unto the name of Jehovah....
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
They shall prosper that love thee.” Psalm 122:1-6, R.V.

PP 538.5

As they saw around them the hills where the heathen had been wont to kindle their altar fires, the children of Israel sang:

PP 538.6

“Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?
Whence should my help come?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1, 2 (margin).

PP 538.7

“They that trust in the Lord
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever.
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem,
So the Lord is round about His people,
From this time forth and forevermore.” Psalm 125:1, 2, R.V.

PP 539.1

Surmounting the hills in view of the Holy City, they looked with reverent awe upon the throngs of worshipers wending their way to the temple. They saw the smoke of the incense ascending, and as they heard the trumpets of the Levites heralding the sacred service, they caught the inspiration of the hour, and sang:

PP 539.2

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.” Psalm 48:1, 2.

PP 539.3

“Peace be within thy walls,
And prosperity within thy palaces.”
“Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.”
“I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house,
In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem,
Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm 122:7; 118:19; 116:18, 19.

PP 539.4

All the houses in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms were furnished free; but this was not sufficient for the vast assembly, and tents were pitched in every available space in the city and upon the surrounding hills.

PP 539.5

On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating the deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type.

PP 539.6

The Passover was followed by the seven day’s feast of unleavened bread. The first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no servile work was to be performed. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year’s harvest were presented before God. Barley was the earliest grain in Palestine, and at the opening of the feast it was beginning to ripen. A sheaf of this grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, as an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered.

PP 540.1

Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks. As an expression of gratitude for the grain prepared as food, two loaves baked with leaven were presented before God. The Pentecost occupied but one day, which was devoted to religious service.

PP 540.2

In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. This feast acknowledged God’s bounty in the products of the orchard, the olive grove, and the vineyard. It was the crowning festal gathering of the year. The land had yielded its increase, the harvests had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, the oil, and the wine had been stored, the first fruits had been reserved, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God, who had thus richly blessed them.

PP 540.3

This feast was to be pre-eminently an occasion of rejoicing. It occurred just after the great Day of Atonement, when the assurance had been given that their iniquity should be remembered no more. At peace with God, they now came before Him to acknowledge His goodness and to praise Him for His mercy. The labors of the harvest being ended, and the toils of the new year not yet begun, the people were free from care, and could give themselves up to the sacred, joyous influences of the hour. Though only the fathers and sons were commanded to appear at the feasts, yet, so far as possible, all the household were to attend them, and to their hospitality the servants, the Levites, the stranger, and the poor were made welcome.

PP 540.4

Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness the people were now to leave their houses and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green branches “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40, 42, 43.

PP 540.5

The first day was a holy convocation, and to the seven days of the feast an eighth day was added, which was observed in like manner.

PP 540.6

At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young would be encouraged in the service of God, while the association of the people from the different quarters of the land would strengthen the ties that bound them to God and to one another. Well would it be for the people of God at the present time to have a Feast of Tabernacles—a joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to them. As the children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God had wrought for their fathers, and His miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from Egypt, so should we gratefully call to mind the various ways He has devised for bringing us out from the world, and from the darkness of error, into the precious light of His grace and truth.

PP 541.1

With those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, more than a month of every year must have been occupied in attendance upon the annual feasts. This example of devotion to God should emphasize the importance of religious worship and the necessity of subordinating our selfish, worldly interests to those that are spiritual and eternal. We sustain a loss when we neglect the privilege of associating together to strengthen and encourage one another in the service of God. The truths of His word lose their vividness and importance in our minds. Our hearts cease to be enlightened and aroused by the sanctifying influence, and we decline in spirituality. In our intercourse as Christians we lose much by lack of sympathy with one another. He who shuts himself up to himself is not filling the position that God designed he should. We are all children of one Father, dependent upon one another for happiness. The claims of God and of humanity are upon us. It is the proper cultivation of the social elements of our nature that brings us into sympathy with our brethren and affords us happiness in our efforts to bless others.

PP 541.2

The Feast of Tabernacles was not only commemorative but typical. It not only pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but, as the feast of harvest, it celebrated the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and pointed forward to the great day of final ingathering, when the Lord of the harvest shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares together in bundles for the fire, and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will all be destroyed. They will become “as though they had not been.” Obadiah 16. And every voice in the whole universe will unite in joyful praise to God. Says the revelator, “Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Revelation 5:13.

PP 542.1

The people of Israel praised God at the Feast of Tabernacles, as they called to mind His mercy in their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt and His tender care for them during their pilgrim life in the wilderness. They rejoiced also in the consciousness of pardon and acceptance, through the service of the day of atonement, just ended. But when the ransomed of the Lord shall have been safely gathered into the heavenly Canaan, forever delivered from the bondage of the curse, under which “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22), they will rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ’s great work of atonement for men will then have been completed, and their sins will have been forever blotted out.

PP 542.2

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;
And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and
singing:
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
The excellency of Carmel and Sharon;
They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our
God.

PP 542.3

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
And the tongue of the dumb sing:
“For in the wilderness shall waters break out,
And streams in the desert.
And the parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water: ...
“And an highway shall be there, and a way,
And it shall be called The way of holiness;
The unclean shall not pass over it;
But it shall be for those:
The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

PP 542.4

“No lion shall be there,
Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon,
It shall not be found there;
But the redeemed shall walk there:
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads:
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:1, 2, 5-10.

From Eternity Past

Chapter 52—Annual Feasts of Rejoicing

EP 386.1

The people of Israel were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, eager to seize upon their lands; yet three times every year all the people who could make the journey were directed to leave their homes and repair to the place of assembly near the center of the land. What was to hinder their enemies from sweeping down on those unprotected households to lay them waste with fire and sword? What was to prevent an invasion that would bring Israel into captivity?

EP 386.2

God had promised to be the protector of His people. “I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.” Exodus 34:24.

EP 386.3

The first of these festivals, the Passover, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding to the last of March and the beginning of April. The cold of winter was past, the latter rain had ended, and all nature rejoiced in the freshness and beauty of springtime. The grass was green on the hills and valleys, and wild flowers everywhere brightened the fields. The moon, now approaching full, made the evening delightful.

EP 386.4

Throughout the land, bands of pilgrims were making their way toward Jerusalem. The shepherds, the herdsmen, fishers from the Sea of Galilee, husbandmen from their fields, and sons of the prophets from the sacred schools—all turned their steps toward the place where God’s presence was revealed. Many went on foot. The caravans often became very large before reaching the Holy City.

EP 387.1

Nature’s gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel. The grand Hebrew psalms were chanted, exalting the glory and majesty of Jehovah. At the sound of the signal trumpet, with the music of cymbals, the chorus of thanksgiving arose, swelled by hundreds of voices:

EP 387.2

I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
Psalm 122:1

EP 387.3

As they saw around them hills where the heathen had been wont to kindle their altar fires, the children of Israel sang:

EP 387.4

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
From whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from Jehovah,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1, 2

EP 387.5

Surmounting the hills in view of the Holy City, they looked with reverent awe upon the throngs of worshipers wending their way to the temple. As they heard the trumpets of the Levites heralding the sacred service, they caught the inspiration of the hour, and sang:

EP 387.6

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, in the mountain of His
holiness.
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
Psalm 48:1, 2

EP 387.7

Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord.
Psalm 118:19

EP 388.1

All the houses in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms were furnished free. But this was not sufficient, and tents were pitched in every available space in the city and upon the surrounding hills.

EP 388.2

On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type.

EP 388.3

The Passover was followed by the seven days’ Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the second day of the feast, the firstfruits of the year’s harvest were presented before God. A sheaf of grain was waved by the priest before the altar of God, an acknowledgment that all was His. Not until this ceremony had been performed was the harvest to be gathered.

EP 388.4

Fifty days from the offering of firstfruits came Pentecost, the feast of harvest. As an expression of gratitude for grain, two loaves baked with leaven were presented before God. Pentecost occupied but one day.

EP 388.5

In the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering. This feast acknowledged God’s bounty in the products of orchard, olive grove, and vineyard. It was the crowning festival gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, oil, and wine had been stored, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God.

EP 388.6

This feast was an occasion of rejoicing. It occurred just after the great Day of Atonement, when assurance had been given that their iniquity should be remembered no more. At peace with God, the labors of the harvest ended and the toils of the new year not yet begun, the people could give themselves up to the sacred, joyous influences of the hour. So far as possible, all the household were to attend the feasts, and to their hospitality the servants, the Levites, the stranger, and the poor were made welcome.

EP 389.2

At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young would be encouraged in the service of God. Association of the people from different quarters of the land would strengthen the ties that bound them to God and to one another. As Israel celebrated the deliverance God had wrought for their fathers and His miraculous preservation of them during their journeyings from Egypt, so should we gratefully call to mind the ways He has devised for bringing us out from darkness into the precious light of His grace and truth.

EP 389.3

With those who lived at a distance from the tabernacle, more than a month of every year must have been occupied in attendance upon the annual feasts. This example of devotion should emphasize the importance of religious worship, the necessity of subordinating our selfish, worldly interests to those that are spiritual and eternal. We sustain a loss when we neglect associating together to encourage one another in the service of God. We are all children of one Father, dependent upon one another for happiness. It is the proper cultivation of the social elements of our nature that brings us into sympathy with our brethren and affords us happiness.

From Eternity Past

Meaning of the Festivals

EP 389.1

Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was commemorative. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness, the people were to leave their homes and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green branches “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willow of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40.

EP 389.4

The Feast of Tabernacles not only pointed back to the wilderness sojourn, but forward to the great day of final ingathering. The Lord shall send forth His reapers to gather the tares in bundles for the fire and to gather the wheat into His garner. At that time the wicked will be destroyed. They will become “as though they had not been.” Obadiah 16. And every voice in the whole universe will unite in joyful praise to God.

EP 390.1

When the ransomed of the Lord shall have been safely gathered into the heavenly Canaan, forever delivered from the bondage of the curse, they will “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8. Christ’s great work of atonement will then have been completed and their sins forever blotted out.

EP 390.2

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with songs
And everlasting joy upon their heads: ...
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 35:10

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Ms 121, 1899

14LtMs, Ms 121, 1899, par. 21

Let those who believe the word of the Lord read the instruction contained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. There they will learn what kind of an education was to leave its impress on the families of the nation of Israel. God’s chosen people were to stand forth distinct and holy, separate from the nations who knew not God. But they were given directions to treat the stranger kindly. He was not to be looked down on because he was not of Israel. The Israelites were to love the strangers, because Christ died as verily to save them as He did to save Israel. The Lord God of Israel would receive them if they chose the society of those who knew and acknowledged Him. In this way they would learn of Jehovah, and glorify Him as they beheld His works in behalf of His chosen people.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 137, 1899

14LtMs, Lt 137, 1899, par. 2

Many resolutions had been made which had never been carried out, and there seemed to be a heavy burden upon us all. Then a voice said to us, “You have not obeyed the voice of God. In Leviticus you have Christ’s words recorded for your direction in various lines of work, but the principles of God’s Word have been disregarded.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 221, 1899

14LtMs, Lt 221, 1899, par. 2

I have things to send to you in writing that I deem very important, and I think it will be prepared in a form so that many may be benefited by it. I should oft be so pleased to have talks with you upon matters that are intensely interesting to me, that I am trying to write out, in reference to the specifications in Scriptural injunctions in regard to the duties one to another in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. We must just call to our minds those [precepts on] actual, practical missionary work, and work intelligently, and do the very principles of Christianity, the gospel of the Old Testament.

14LtMs, Lt 221, 1899, par. 5

I cannot write out all that is contained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But I think our people in this enlightened age of 1899, if they would go back to the period they call the “Dark Ages” and bring into their practical life the lessons that Christ gave to the Hebrews, they would act out the obedience God required of them. Their hearts would not be so full of selfish principles that when His brethren working in hard fields should ask a favor, that they would close the door of their heart and say, No.

Sons and Daughters of God

With a Happy Sabbath Day of Worship and Rest, June 23

SD 181.1

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, ... ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:3.

Lift Him Up

Living in the Great Day of Atonement, November 12

LHU 330.1

On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Leviticus 23:27.

Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Guiding Toward Organization the Vital Need for Church Organization

WV 71.6

One matter that required agreement was the time to begin the Sabbath. Joseph Bates was considered the father of the Sabbath truth. As captain of his own vessels, he had sailed far and wide and was acquainted with the matter of time-keeping in various parts of the world. It was his conclusion that time as kept at the equator, with sunset uniformly at 6:00 p.m., was the proper guide to Sabbathkeeping, regardless of season of the year or location. The Scriptures called for evening to mark the beginning of the new day, and the words “from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32) were cited in support of this view. The April 21, 1851, issue of the Review carried a three-column article by Joseph Bates in support of the 6:00 time.

Ellen G. White: The Early Years: 1827-1862 (vol. 1)

The Doctrinal Point—Time to Begin the Sabbath

1BIO 322.2

As noted in earlier chapters, Joseph Bates was considered the father of the Sabbath truth. As captain of his own vessels, he had sailed far and wide and was acquainted with the matter of time-keeping in different parts of the world. It was his conclusion that time as kept at the equator, with sunset uniformly at 6:00 P.M., was the proper guide to Sabbathkeeping, regardless of season of the year or location. The Scriptures called for evening marking the beginning of the new day, and the words “from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32) were cited in support of this point. The April 21, 1851, issue of the Review carried a three-column article by Joseph Bates in support of the six o’clock time.

The Review and Herald

January 7, 1896

RH January 7, 1896, par. 14

On every side we hear discussion of the subjects presented at the camp-meeting. One day as Elder Corliss stepped out of a train, the guard [conductor] stopped him with the request that he explain Colossians 2:16. They stopped, and as the crowd rushed by, the explanation was given, and from Leviticus 23:37, 38 it was shown that there were sabbaths besides the Sabbath of the Lord. Earnest requests have been sent in that some of the addresses be given in the Melbourne town hall.

Radiant Religion

In Commemoration of His Blessings, January 29

RRe 31.1

Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. Leviticus 23:39, 40.

The Desire of Ages

Chapter 30—“He Ordained Twelve”

DA 290.3

It was under the trees of Eden that the first dwellers on earth had chosen their sanctuary. There Christ had communed with the father of mankind. When banished from Paradise, our first parents still worshiped in the fields and groves, and there Christ met them with the gospel of His grace. It was Christ who spoke with Abraham under the oaks at Mamre; with Isaac as he went out to pray in the fields at the eventide; with Jacob on the hillside at Bethel; with Moses among the mountains of Midian; and with the boy David as he watched his flocks. It was at Christ’s direction that for fifteen centuries the Hebrew people had left their homes for one week every year, and had dwelt in booths formed from the green branches “of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.” Leviticus 23:40.